Media Relations

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Overview (Media Relations Services for Faculty)

The Health Sciences Media Relations Office oversees all media activity involving UCLA patient care and medical education and research. Our projects, both big and small, have one primary goal: to enhance UCLA's image by generating positive publicity. We act as the liaison between medical experts and reporters, which allows us to perform three critical functions:

Promoter

Health professionals share research, patient stories and other newsworthy story ideas with us. We, in turn, determine the news value of the story and share the idea with appropriate media outlets through press conferences, news releases, media advisories, pitch letters, phone calls or calendar listings. The media relations team produces scores of news releases each year informing the public about scientific research, events, program launches and other feature story ideas.

Matchmaker

Reporters call us with their own story ideas and requests for interviews. We understand what reporters are seeking and help match the best experts and most relevant information sources to each request.

First line of defense

Potentially negative issues and incidents, by their nature, draw news media interest. As a public university, UCLA is obliged to provide information to help the general public understand the nature, value and purpose of the work conducted by its faculty, staff and students. Therefore, in these situations, reporters will seek UCLA spokespeople for news interviews.

The media relations team is at your service. We are available to advise and assist UCLA Health Sciences faculty and staff in their interactions with the news media 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We field calls for expert comment; actively pitch research, patient care and medical technology stories; and act as first responders and advisers in the event of negative press. We also handle all logistics related to interviews, video shoots, press conferences and other media visits to UCLA medical facilities.

Media relations officers

Every department at UCLA is assigned a media relations officer. Feel free to contact your media specialist for assistance in publicizing new research or clinical procedures, patient stories or public events. Your media relations officer also can help you field unsolicited media calls and provide tips or media training. All media relations officers can be reached at (310) 794-0777 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. For urgent assistance after hours, call (310) 825-6301 and ask for the officer on call.